Quote:
Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey
According to the opinions on the site, the swing keel version is not designed to be beached although you can do it with some care. The opinion is that a small number of boats out there are designed for beaching like an RM with twin keels or those alum Ovnis with centreboard.. The other note is that the swing keel is not designed to be swung up and sailed, for example to reduce drag. The weight makes the boat imbalanced. I'm not sure how that would reduce drag anyway since the same surface is exposed. The benefit of a swing is to get closer to shore an anchor in tight spots.
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All good points. Drying out with the swing keel certainly appears to carry risk. Check out the Mojito 8.88 which has beaching legs integral to its design. You can see them in this video slanting down as a five inch diameter
aluminum pole.
http://youtu.be/wdoLx8ODZpw
My experience with my present boat,
Hunter 216 with 500 lb. swing keel, has taught that I can swing that keel right up in a downwind course and reduce drag, although it affects boat balance. I'd say that would also apply and be more amplified in bigger boats with more sail area as well. Thinking about the drag reduction further, that 349 swing foil length is such that if you tucked it right up into the
hull, you would get a significant hydrodynamic hiding spot for its length. On my
Hunter 216 w ith swing keel up I have sailed into the
wind for short distance. Although it crabs a lot, it is a practical method to nudge right up to a sandy shore.
One negative aspect of swing keels though is the stress on the boat and the mechanism. They take a pounding and it's all reliant on a well engineered and well maintained
single pivot point. That fact has always bugged me. For my sailing purposes, that is why the
shoal keel config of my 349 satisfies me. No more worries about what happens if the keel drops off or fails to move at the worst time.